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TT:Instead of wounding base of the Strength, this lore’s spells wound base on how strong the enemy armour is. The stronger the armour, the more devastating is the damage. A spell use against goblins will have barley any effect. The same spell against Black Orcs? Absolute havoc.Additionally, every spell counts as flammable (neglect regeneration) and doesn’t allow armour saves.

TW:This attribute sets the tone, but also some of the problems of this lore. While it is strong against the majority of elite units, since they tend to have the strongest armour, some fall through and against the most standard units or lower units, it has barley use, as damage maker.When choosing the lore you should have a pretty good strategy to ensure that you will primary meet enemy elite units with high armour (dwarfs are a safe bet) or take augments and hexes as ensures that there is something to do for your caster.

Searing Doom (Signature Spell):Not everything shiny is good for you.

TT:Magic missile with a range of 24 inches, D6 hits with the strength of 4.Cost: 10+.For 20+ you get 2D6 hits.

TW:A bit expensive, compared to the other signature spells, but since it makes the most damage against the best of the enemies; it is quite useful as early anti elite spell.

Plague of Rust:No matter how hard your metal is, it will give in to the attack of rust!

TT:Hex spell with 24 inches range. Lowers enemy armour -1 for the rest of the battle. Repeated use is possible.

TW:A nice spell to hurt the protection of enemy units, thou you may want to be careful not to use it on unit you want to damage with metal lore spells.

Enchanted blades of Aiban:Sometimes shiny things are good for you.

TT:Augment Spell with 24 inches range. All hit rolls in melee and range gain +1 and all attacks count as magical and armour piercing.Cost: 9+The range can be increase to 48 inches for 12+.

TW:A good spell if you actually hit someone, which can give your chaos warriors troubles in close combat. “Magical attacks” is useful in some cases of undead enemies. Thou it is a bit of a shame that you don’t have the option to augment all units in 12 inches radius.

Glittering Robe:Not only better protection but also more fabulous!

TT:Augment with 12 inches range. Give a unit “Scale skin” (armour) of 5+.Cost: 9+.Can be cast on all units in 12 inches radius for 16+.

TW:Better armour for unit is a good way to help units to survive. Thou the short range is a bit of a bumper, the big version once again can help entire lines.Since some of your units have rather light armour and the fact that you will get under fire quite a lot, it should be useful.

Gehenna’s golden Hounds:Who are good boys? Who are good boys? yes you are! yes you are!

TT:Damage spell with 12 inches range. Pick a certain model which suffers D6 hits, enemy characters can be aim for, but they do have “Look out sir”.Cost: 9+.Can be improve to a range of 24 for 12+.

TW:This one has to work a bit different, as in the TT, most likely. The “sniping” effect of this spell doesn’t apply to the game and it will probably be compensate by having extra damage against single targets.Thou one must wonder if CA is going the hounds as real “models” or just a damage effect, like in the TT.The weakness of this spell is the short range in the first version. Chaos wizard however can have some steeds and a comfortable in close combat, that this should be less of a issue.

Higher level spells:

Transformation of Lead: Your once light and elegant weapon suddenly becomes heavy as a stone club.

TW:Most likely very effective hex, crippling even strong enemy units to great extend.Draw back is the fact that the spell can only affect one unit.

Final Transmutation:Not only devastating, but also good for the economy.

TT:Damage spell with 18 inches range, every model in the enemy units must roll a D6, by a 5+, t is become a gold statue. No protect saves of any kind allowed. Targets with multiple hit points roll a 6+.Also every enemy unit, including the one hit, must test on stupidity (moral check, when fail the unit isn’t allowed to move). Cost: 15+.Range can be double to 36+ inches in which case it cost 18+.

TW:Well what can I say? One of the most dangerous spells of the game. While barley more than a 1/3 of the enemy gets hit (this time, armour doesn’t matter), those 1/3 have no form of protection against this. Also it can completely sabotage the ability of an enemy to move one of his flanks.Range is solid, cost okay. I do wonder if we get additional loot, when using this spell. If the answer is yes, this could be a nice source of additional income.

Conclusion:This is quite the opposite end as the lore of fire: great against elites, not so much the great masses. While every race has some high armour elite units, the race which has the most of them are the dwarfs and armies sent against them should consider taking a metal lore caster.The lore is flexible enough in terms of augments and hexes to be useful, even if the enemy has barley armour.

The Lore of Death is the lore we know most of it, as for the moment. It is the only one we have “current” ingame stats for the majority of spells, so let’s take a closer look.

Spirit Leech (Signature spell):Ahhh… taste like strawberry!

TT:Damage spell with the range of 12 inches. Targets single models. Both the target and the caster roll a D6 and compare the moral. If the caster has higher number as the target, the target loses the differences as wounds, without armour saves.Cost: 7+For 10+ he gets 24 inches range.

TW:10 seconds.200 range?Effect: There is a chance that certain effect creature will be damaged.Now while the duration is a bit irrelevant, the second but is a bit hard grasp what that actually is. Is it range: than 200 sounds a lot, especially since the spell appears to have only one version (because it is a signature spell?). So I guess it is cost.What is a bit frustration, both from our perspective now and if the game comes out: the description is really vague. It could be that the TT systems works in the back ground (aka the moral compensation), but the description doesn’t tell you if that is the case or not.I hope CA improves this, since it would be important to know if improve moral for the Caster means better chance to damage with this spell or not.

Should CA use the TT system, than it should be a good spell, since CW have high moral stats.

Aspect of the Dreadknight:Fear the power for the Dark side!

TT:Augment spell with the range of 24 inches. The unit gets the special rule “causes fear”.Cost: 4+.Can be improve to “terror” for 9+.

TW:Duration: 30 seconds. 200?Target gets “causes fear” and base moral 5+.Interesting enough, the spell is stronger here as in the TT, thanks to the bonus moral. Thou the real difference will probably the way “fear” works. “Fear” causes a moral test that if not passed does not cause a rout but debuff the unit.It is quite possible that CA does this faithful or that they make it is“lower enemy moral” ability. We have to wait and see.Also worth mentioning is the fact that units which cause fear are immune themselves. A lot of CW units do case fear/terror from the get go, thou they may be harder to get than this spell.

Life-Leeching:Mhhh… it tastes just as my mom!

TT:For every wound lost because of damage spells of this lore you roll a D6. If you roll a 5+, you gain an energy dice.

TW:It pretty much works as in the TT. Thou again, more detail numbers are hopefully available when playing the game, on the “how much”.

It pushes you in the direction of the damage spells, since this only work on them. Now the damage spells aren’t bad, but as said before: augments and hexes, of this lore as well, are very nice. And from a skill point standpoint it could be very tempting to ignore the hex/augments for more damage.This could be a great choice for a 2nd caster in an army, to ensure that the 2 don’t interfere in terms of energy too much.

Soulblight:You were afraid what I would do to your body, while you should have been afraid of what I do to your soul.

TT:It is a hex spell with 24 inches range. One unit suffer -1 strength and toughness. Cost: 9+.For 18+ the caster can affect all enemy units in range of 24 inches.

TW:Duration: 20 seconds.200 (most likely range at this point).Effect range 30 (the AE area apparently)Effects: -4 base moral-4 armour-5% missile damage-3 melee damage base.Now here is spell which could use a buff in terms of effects, when compared to the TT. While it has additional effects that it doesn’t have (including the direct area use) like moral and missile damage, the “core” seem to be lacking.In comparison Dwarf warriors (in the tunderfalls battle) had:Armour 80Base Moral 80Melee Damage 30While the moral thing is bonus, the armour and the melee damage base should be effect harder (about 20 and maybe 6) and maybe also a bit longer. Nevertheless it does help you to crimple enemy units and help to win.

TW:Duration: 30 seconds.200 (probably range)-14 base moralSo let’s see what we have here. On the one hand, the base moral value should, to be close to the TT around -30. On the other hand, the TT doesn’t automatically test your moral he way TW does. Means that a unit that got this hex on them, but is never force to test moral of any kind, doesn’t care for it. While in TW you test moral all the time.That “stay in game” wasn’t translated, is not a surprise, thou the duration is still short. I would hope that spells with “stay in game” will last at least around a minute and more, if not 2-3 minutes.As for the use of the spell: lowering moral in a TW itself is already useful. Considering the other spells which also use moral from this lore and you get a number of handy combinations.

Mid conclusion:While there are some information’s missing, how exactly the spell works, the general direction stays close to the TT.We can only really judge 3 of the spells in terms of strength. One is better than in the TT, two feel weaker and the overall duration of spells seems short. A big question mark is of course what the higher levels of those spell do and how many there are. Are there only 2? Than it appears that they only get cool down reductions. What if they do have 3 or 5 levels? We have to wait and see.

High level Spells

The fate of Bjunas:Why so serious?

TT:Damage spell with 12 inches range. Aim one single enemy model. You throw 2D6 minus the toughness of the model and get that numbers as hits. All hits wound at a 2+, no armour saves allowed. If the model survives, it stays “stupid” (moral check for moving).Cost: 13+.

TW:It will be probably excellent against single targets. Even if the targets survives, it stays crippled (thou the details of “stupid” in the game are unknown). Range is a bit short thou. Nice tool against annoying enemy heroes.

The Purple sun of Xereus:No sunscreen will save you from getting burned from this sun.

TT:Damage Vortex spell that stays in the game. It uses the 3 template. The player places the template and nomination the direction the spell goes. Then he uses the artillery dice (2-10) and multiplies the result with 3. Ever model touched must pass an initiative test or die. Should the arty dice show malfunction that the template gets place about the caster. After that you use a D6 and the scatter dice.In both events, the sun stays in the game and move randomly till the arty dice shows a malfunction. Cost: 15+.For 25+ you get the big 5 inches template.

TW:What can I say? This spell is similar some other spells: devastating damage, but also a big risk attached to it. While I personal I don’t believe that “classic” miscast will be in the game (aka you fail a spell and there is a chance that your lvl 30 wizard blows up), I do wonder what CA is gonna do with spells like this, where a certain “failure” state is already with in it.Also the question of the “initiative” strikes once again. In the TT, elves don’t fear this spell nearly as much as orcs or dwarfs. I wonder if CA will make this difference in the game as well and how.Also interesting will be the question how long it will be stay in the game (only 30 seconds?) and how much energy you gain from killing with this. This spell could make the lore attribute make a big pay off and offers very heavy damage.

Conclusion:When compared to fire and metal, the lore of Death is less fixates on one role, but of course is also not as good as either in that special role. Through it’s attribute it can be greatly combine with any other lore.The moral focus can be very useful, as long you don’t fight the Vampire counts.

Archaon the Everchosen:Well what can be said about him, except that he is more successful then failbbadon.

TT:He is an absolute monster of a character. Hits fast, hits incredible hard, is unbelievable tough, boost the army in various ways and while there is a slight chance that things go wrong for him (he can hit himself), he is very likely to murder half of a enemy army alone before hand.GW looked at this and though: “this is still slightly too balance… let make him also a wizard”.Thou he is admittedly only a level 2 wizard, which isn’t that spectacular, considering what he does in close combat.

TW:While I think that he will be slightly less OP, even full equipped, than in the TT, he still should cause nightmares. His only downside is probably that he hasn’t a flying mount.Interesting enough: CA limits him to only use the lore of fire and not let him choose between all 3(4) lore’s he has. Thou he I a very limited wizard in the TT, I suspect that he can go full fire wizard, when he wants to.Should he? Probably not. Making the fireball good and perhaps skill 1-2 other low level spells could be very useful (flame sword). But his melee combat should be sooo good that it is probably the place to spend the skill points to get the most of it.Thou even an Archaon who goes full wizard, is probably still a terrible foe in melee combat.

Before we talk about the magic of the Anvil, let’s talk about what it actually is and how it most likely going to be in the game.The “Anvil of Doom” is an upgrade for the Runelords (lord choice) of the Dwarfen TT armybook. It is not available for the runesmiths (hero choice).It makes the Runelord a Warmachine, grants him two anvil guards and gives him access to three spells/runes (we talk about those in just a moment). Also it generates a power and dispel dice. While the first is interesting enough to even have energy in the first place (thou not really that special since every Wizard can do that), the second could be end up as a “magic resistance aura”, which would be a nice bonus.The fact that this is a warmachine which doesn’t just come with crew, but with bodyguards, is interesting, since even if it gets rushed, it should be able to defend itself, at least for a bit. I suspect that the guard will be 20-40 dwarfs strong. Which isn’t much, but in the TT it has 2 and those are basically ironbreakers in terms of skill and equipment, hence very good fighters.Being a warmachine also means that this makes your Runelord very slow.

TW:Not really spectacular damage. Especially for a race which has access to excellent artillery.Not worth using? Maybe it will. CA could simply buff it and it also could be better at firing at flying targets, than the artillery. Hence it could be a nice “anit air” spell and turn the anvil in a cable “flaz” (Flugabwehrzauberer= Air defence wizard).

Rune of Hearth and HomeMy home is my castle.

TT:Gives “immune against psychology” (terror and fear) to your units.

TW:This can be a nice moral boost, but moral is usually not really an issue for dwarfs, thanks to the fact they have very good moral to begin with. So it could be that this would fix an issue which doesn’t really exist.On the other hand: if you are really in a situation were you having problems with moral, this could be more important than ever.

TW:It isn’t a secret that the Dwarfs are really though nuts and to improve this strength even further can be very useful. Whenever one of our units is in a though spot, this keeps them alive.

Conclusion:Now is time to answer a couple of logical questions. First:Is the Anvil of Doom a worthy replacement for the inability of Dwarf to use magic otherwise?Not really. Unless they seriously buff the 3 spells, they have neither the strength nor the flexibility most of the lore’s have (most races have 3 and more lore’s to choose from) with 7 spells. Now to be fair: the Anvil doesn’t have to compete with other lore’s, since it is the only access to magic dwarfs have anyway.Second:Is the Anvil of Doom worth taking for the Runelord?In the TT, he appears to give armour piercing to the unit he is joins (same with the hero class). That is of course very useful and gets lost if he sits behind the lines in the anvil. But in TW I think they will turn all abilities which effects “units the characters are in” in radius base buffs.This could mean that he still grants armour piercing, if the anvil is close enough to the main line.Overall, the lost of mobility is the great downside of the Anvil. It means on one hand that an army which is bad in terms of mobility gets even worse. On the other hand: the natural strength of the dwarf race, the defence, gets even better. Which appears to be the main “topic” with the Anvil: you improve strengths, instead on work on weaknesses.And since Dwarf player will have to master tactics that will make enemies attack them anyway (because that is how the whole race works), the downside could be become minuscule.Also: you can always choose not to use a mount, if you have to be mobile in a battles (you are attacking for example) you simply deselect the anvil.

To wrap this up, I will sum up as what I view as the upsides and the downsides of the Anvil of Doom.

So the upsides of an Anvil of Doom are:+boost a defensive line+grants a bodyguard to the runelord+gives you something you can use magic energy on+gives the runelord a good range attack

The Downsides:-makes you less mobile-your spells are not that great (probably)-(probably) needs quite a few skill points

Bretonnia:While not really announced, it is relative sure that CA will make them the FLC race.So why not take the lore’s they use, before we finish the empire?

Lore of Life

Basic Lore Attribute:

Lifebloom:Growing strong.

TT:Every time a spell of this lore is cast, the Damsel/Prophetess or a friendly model in 12 inches range, gains a wound back.

TW:As mention before, I think that everything that heals you will be very useful in the campaign.It keeps your characters alive and gives you the opportunity to use them more frequently than without healing.

Earthblood (signature spell)It is more refreshing than any beauty product!

TT:Augment spell which is cast on the Damsel/Prophetess and the unit which she is in. Grants a 5+ regeneration.Cost: 8+.

TW:In the TT this is an additional safe to prevent wounds. In TW this could work different and be stronger. Since in TW not everyone but few has 1 wound, but everyone has a number of hit points, this could work stronger than before since it keeps unit with much health (in the game, most likely a combination of wounds and toughness) better in the fight than before.

Awakening of the Wood:They don’t mean “morning wood” boys.

TT:Direct damage spell (aims for characters) with 18 inches range. Causes D6 hits with strength 4. Should the target be even partly in a wood, the target suffers 2D6 hits.Cost: 6+.

TW:Design against single target, this spell can be mighty in certain environment. Without wood, it isn’t really strong, but in woods it can be devastating.Against a human player, this could be useful for “mind games”. Making another play move his/hers characters out of woods, just in fear of this spell.For Bretonnians, it could be important to have a tool to get someone out of the woods, one way or the other, considering that cavalry doesn’t like woods and you have nothing worth infantry while to throw into woods.

TW:Improves either/both defence and health of units and helps them to stay alive. Always welcome in my book.

Throne of Vines:It is stylish, but a bit uncomfortable.

TT:Remains in play augment spell. Cast upon the Wizard. All “miscast” get neglected on a 2+, as long the spell is active. Additionally, it change the other spells the following:

Earthblood: 4+, instead of 5+.

Awakening of the Wood: Strength 6, instead of 4.

Flesh to Stone: +4 instead of 2+ toughness.

Shield of Thorns: Strength 4 instead of 3.

Regrowth: D6 +1 wounds/models.

Cost: 8+.

TW:This right here is the KEY spell of this whole lore. But also the reason I’m a bit worried.The buffs to the spells are really hard in the TT. For example:Having 2+ toughness on a unit in the TT through “Flesh to stone” is a really strong buff, since it means that units with strength (standard for most) which wound units with toughness 3 (also standard) usually on the 4+, do this only on a 6+. A great decrease of enemy damage.If you have 4+ toughness even elite units with strength 6 (often on charge or with great weapons) will only hurt you on 5+. Making your units almost immune to any damage.All the other spells get similar boost.Now why I’m worried?Well the spell is a “remains in game” spell which means that until the enemy bans it, it remains active. Right now it doesn’t look like that CA will make those spell practically long. Which in this case, will make it difficult to cast other spell in succession and it may not be useful at all, since it will be impossible to actually cast the other spells.If CA avoids this, what I hope, this would be the key spell for every “living” wizard. Greatly improving all but one spell.

TW:Could be a very useful spell to protect units from melee units and could be very good if you need to defend choke points (sieges). Thou it would only really work against “horde” units and not really against elites, unless the “Throne” is active. Also for Bretonnia the question is: which unit is supposed to hold such choke points? Man at Arms? Battle pilgrims? Demounted knights (possible not in the game)? The “remains in play” is again a big question mark. This would indicate that this spell should stay for quite a while.

High Level Spells:

Regrowth:“STOP WITH THE CUT HEAD NUMBER!”

TT:Augment spell with 24 inches range. A friendly unit regains lost D3+1 models (it can’t gain unless it has lost some).Cost: 12+.Range can be improved to 48 inches for 15+.

TW:Now this is on the surface looks way weaker than what Vampire Counts (Invocation of Nehek) use, even if it got the boost of the Throne. And in some ways it is. What makes this equal and even better is the fact that you can choose better targets.Using it on the peasants is most likely a waste (like everything else used on them), but when use on Pegasus Knights or Grail Knights, this spell shines the most.And keeping such important units alive is incredible important, saves time for replenishment and wins battles.Also the range of this spell is far better than what the Vampire Counts have.

The Dwellers Bellow:Why isn’t this “undead” spell?

TT:Direct damage spell with 12 inches range. All enemies in the unit must pass a strength test or die. No saves of any kind allowed.Cost: 18+.Range can be improved to 24 inches for 21+.

TW:This is a bit of a tricky spell. Simply because the nature of the “strength” test.In the TT means that a unit must use the strength value it ha in its profile, without the modification from weapons or such. This mean that Empire Greatswords, which fight with S 5 thanks to the great weapons, but have only S 3 in the profile, die as much Empire Spearmen (also S 3).Where is the problem? Well strength will most likely be result in damage (possible combine with “attacks”) or melee damage. If the game doesn’t make the distinction between melee damage with weapons and without weapons, than this spell would be very ineffective against a large number of elite melee units. Despite not allowing ANY saves.If CA avoids this problem, this spell still has the slight problem on not be as effective on high melee damage units as on the rest, but still would be on of the most dangerous and devastating spells.

Conclusion:There a couple of big question mark, which greatly will influence how effective this lore will be. Should CA avoid/solve these problems, than we have a very useful lore in front of us. Excellent in support and protection of own units, passive healing for characters and some damage makes this a good package.For Bretonnians, this is a good lore. It helps to preserve the army/characters (Bretonnians are quite elite, but aren’t that good armoured) and can help some of its tactical problems.

TT:Everytime this lore’s spell are use on units that are: war beast, monstrous best, cavalry, monstrous cavalry, chariots, monsters, swarms or any unit from the beastmen armybook, gets reduce in cost by 1.

TW: I like this a bit more than I do the Fire Lore attribute. Doesn’t make a huge impact but can help to preserve some energy for more spells.While this attribute never triggers by dwarfs (since they don’t have a single unit which fall into any of those categories), it does trigger on Bretonnias quite a lot.Which is good for Bretonnia, since this lore has a lot of augment spells, which you will want to use on its cavalry units/characters.

Wyssans Wildform (Signature spell):Give me Animal names!

TT:Augment spell with a range of 12 inches. Target unit gets +1 of both toughness and strength.Cost: 10+.Range can be extended to 24 inches for 13+.

TW:It gives more damage and more health and/or defence. Not a lot more, but still: solid round buff for a units close by.

TW:I think this is one of the worst spells, if not THE worst spell. The only saving grace is the low cost and relative good range.This could make it useful against enemy missile cavalry, but even there you will have to use multiple times, till they notice it.

Pan’s impenetrable Pelt:No, this is NOT Peter Pans pelt.

TT:Augment spell with 12 inches range, gets cast on a friendly character or the caster. Target gains 3+ toughness.Cost 8+.For 16+, you can cast this on all friendly characters including the caster in 12 inches range.

TW:This could be very useful to boost one of your heroes/lords to stay alive. In an army with a lot of characters, this could incredible powerful in its big version.

The Amber Spear:A certain “League of Legends” character was calling in to complain, but then she took a spear to the knee.

TT:Damage spell with 24 inches range. Works like a bolt thrower in terms of rank penetration (each rank the strength decrease). Has strength 6 and causes D3 wound lost. No armour saves allowed. Cost: 9+.Can be upgraded to a more deadly version with strength 10 and D6 wound lost for 15+.

TW:This could be an excellent method to get rid of single targets. Giants, enemy characters, dragons… if you mange to hit them with this, it will hurt.A lot depends of course how the aiming works (is it a “skill shot”?) and if you get a clear shot. Of course it also can be used against enemy elite units, especially from the flanks.For Bretonnia, this one is a bit tricky: on one hand, having a tool that allows to remove strong single targets is very good, especially in terms of anti air.But both the Damsel and the Prophetess are not wonders of tankyness and hence it could be difficulty to get them into good shooting spots, without risking them too much. Bretonnia has also the disadvantage that the Damsels (Hero) do not have excess to the Pegasus, but only the Prophetess (lord) can have them. War horses are still an option of course.

The course of Anraheir:A: It is a hex spell!B: NO!A: YES!B: OH!

TT:Hex spell with 36 inches range. An enemy unit suffer -1 on all hit roles in melee and range combat. Also it treats all terrains as “dangerous terrain” and all test on “dangerous terrain”* muss be test on 3+ instead of 2+.Cost: 10+.Can be cast for 13+ and gains a range of 72 inches. *every model test and those who don’t pass, suffer one wound without armour save.

TW:This spell has one effect which is pretty straight forward and pretty useful, saving your units some pain and decrease the effeteness of an enemy unit. The other effect is a bit stranger for TW, since TW doesn’t have as clear as the TT borders for its terrain. Also TW doesn’t have the concept of “dangerous terrain” before hand.I would suspect that this gets translated, that every unit moving through woods (or other terrains) gets damage over time.Also worth mention for this spell is that it has quite an impressive range, especially in tier 2 (72 inches in the TT means in 99% of cases that you are in range).For our Arthurian friends, this spell could be very interesting. First it helps to protect your units, since your enemy doesn’t hit you as well.Second: this could make an enemy to make leave or not enter woods or other terrain. Which is good, because as establish: you are mainly a cavalry army and those don’t like going into woods.

High level Spells:

The savage beast of Horros:Release the kraken inside you!

TT:Augment spell which is either cast on the caster or on a friendly character within 12 inches. The targets gains 3+ strength and attacks.Cost: 10+.The caster can choose to use this spell on all friendly characters within 12 inches, for 20+.

TW:This spell is serious business. It pushes the damage output of your characters to a new high. Combine this with “Pan’s Pelt” and you can turn even rather mild characters in absolute monsters, at least for a while.Bretonnia has good characters, but not really amazing compared to Chaos Warrios or Elves or Dwarfs. This spell, especially if combine with “Pan’s Belt”, changes that. It could be very worth while, to have a Damsel with these spells next to one of your Lords/Paladins, always be close and ready to push them into “overdrive”.

TT:Remains in play. Augment spell which can only be used on the caster. Can only be use when on foot. When cast successful the caster turn into one of the following: Horn Dragon, Black Hydra, and feral Manticore.All items lose effect; the caster can’t channel energy or dispel dices. If transformed back, all lost of wounds remain. Cost: 16+.The spell has a mightier version, which allows to be transformed into a Mountain Chimera or Great fire Dragon. Cost: 20+.

TW:This is a mighty spell. But it is a mighty spell with a number of drawbacks.First: once again the question of “remains in play” strikes. Which not only great influence how effective the spell is, but also combines with the second big drawback.Second: “all lost of wounds remain”. That could break this spell. It is bad enough, when your “dragon” turn back in a weak wizard in middle of the enemy army. But if this gets translated (which I think it will), it is very likely that your wizard drops instant dead. If may have 5000+ health as dragon, but as wizard he has probably under 2000. So after you use your dragon as you should (attacking the enemy), your enemy probably will have done some damage, perhaps more than he would if it was just a wizard and very likely more than the wizard, which again are not tanky as general rule, can take. While this can work in multiplayer, in a campaign it would be unacceptable to lose high level caster using this.Third: the whole “only on foot” thing is something I don’t like. Sure, in some cases, being on foot is first choice, like in sieges or arguably in defence case. But as general rule: I would always advise to put your wizard on at least a “horse” of any kind or better on one of the flying mounts. Positioning is important for at least 1-2 spell of all lore’s (including this one) and since most wizards are vulnerable: “being fast is also armour”.In multiplayer, this also means that it is less likely to surprise your enemy, since he/she will think the moment he/she sees are wizard with beast lore on foot: “probably: Transformation of Kadon” and will act accordingly.

These are serious drawbacks; does this mean that this spell is bad? Not worth your attention?Well… you can turn a relative harmless wizard into a dragon. In other words: hell no!And you are fairly flexible since you have quite a number of beasts to choose from. All have some up and downsides when compared to the others, but all are mighty. Some special mention perhaps deserves the black Hydra. While the only monster that doesn’t fly, it covers that up with “regeneration”, which could be very important considering drawback Nr 2.

As for the Bretonnians:Drawback number 3 hurts here more than anywhere else. You are a cavalry army and you would want your caster usually close to your knights. Thou you could make the argument that your peasants have more need of a suddenly appearing dragon, than anyone else.Which leads to the other upside this spell has for Bretonnia: you get a monster. Something you don’t really have in any other form, with possible exception of hippogriffs for Lords and maybe Pegasus (they are pretty “light” monsters). But any of the beasts this spell provides are stronger than those and could catch an enemy unprepared.

Conclusion:The lore has one of the worst spells in the game (probably THE worst damage spell) and its ultimate spell has some serious problems. Hence it is a bad lore? No.It has a very unique role to boost your characters, which can be very handy. Also it has with “The Amber Spear” an excellent “assassin” or flanking shot spell. The signature spell is a solid augment for units and the hex spell is good in reducing damage and has the potential to control enemy movement.Bretonnia could really profit from this lore. Provides a good spell against strong single targets and the “Pan Pelts” & “the savage Horros beast” combo will turn your lords into excellent fighters. The potential to deny the enemy woods, or at least punish them in them, could be very useful for you as well.

Roiling skies:The lore of the heaven is mighty in the skies! For that reason they do more harm to the flying creatures than to those grounded, not matter if they were suppose to damage the enemy in the first place.

TT:A additional D6 with the strength of 4 (a good strength, but nothing special) to all other effects a enemy flyer suffers.

TW:Probably a nice damage boost against all things flying.A helpfully addition against flying foes, which often happen to be the most powerful, but also rare. For Bretonnia, it would be nice to have additional anit air defence, considering that your bowmen aren’t that great and you only other choice are the Pegasus knights.

Iceshard Blizzard (Signature spell):The most basic of heavens spells, is a hex that let your foe shake in fear or at least coldness.

TT:Within the range of 24 inches (the range of normal bows and handguns), this spell modifies all enemy hit roll, close and range, -1 and prevents those shooting attacks without the use of BS, if not a 4+ is rolled and lowers the enemy moral -1.All of this for the cost of a 7+.If you are willing to give more, you can extend the range to 48 inches for a 10+.

TW:A very good rounded up hex spell. That probably will lower fighting skills as meele attack and as well the moral. Not by too much, but still a nice spells to hinder a unit powerful in hurting your man to do so.When the effect concerning weapons that don't use BS gets translated (that applies to a lot of artillery pieces), than this could be a good way to silent enemy guns for at least a while.Bretonnia likes things which can help to make enemy range less effective and perhaps even silence guns.

Harmonic Convergence:The first true spell of the lore, helps to ease the minds of the man to focus.

TT:At the range of 24 inches, one unit can reroll all hit, wound or armour rolls of 1. For 6+, this is yours.Should your instead give 12+, you can improve not one unit, by all units within 12 inches.

TW:It is most likely a quite good spell. Increasing the melee/range attack, the damage and the armour of one unit. Helping a unit, that is equal to its foes, to over come them. In cases where the foe is clearly stronger, this will only help to delay.If you have excess to the bigger version (probably a skill update to lvl 2 or higher) you can push or stabilize an entire frontline against the enemy or make a gunline more deadly.

Windblast: Let the winds of magic push your enemy into the right direction... into they DOOM!

TT:A magic missile with the range of 24 inches. Pushes enemies 1+D3 inches away from the caster. Should the unit hit impassable terrain they suffer damage worth one D6 hits of the strengths 3 (that's pretty weak) and in case that is a unit, both suffer D6 strength 3 hits.It cost 7+ to do so.When the winds are suppose to blow harder, he must pay 14+ and gets push of 2+D6.

TW:I don't want to spoil the rest of the spells, but I think we have here the worst spell of the lore. Not really good in the TT, despite having more tactically use for a push in a turn base game. The damage is low and very specific.While there a certain situations where this could be gold, if fighting on a cliff or during a siege, either pushing away siege towers or units against buildings. But that is very situational and not as reliable as the other spells.One thing important for this spell and something which could make this work better is casting time: if the casting time is low and convenient, than additional uses open up. Example: preventing an enemy unit to charge and then instead charge yourself.Unless CA buffs this spell or it has a very low casting time, it is probably not too useful. Thou it might see a comeback, if the fleets of the Warhammer wolrd set sail.

Course of the Midnightwind:Some think that the hollowing wind at night a natural effect of sonic sound... they are wrong... very wrong...

TT:A hex with a range of 24 inches, it forces one enemy unit to reroll all 6 for hit, wound or armour saves.For 10+.When he doubles to a 20+, he can let all enemies in 12 inches suffer the effects.

TW:This whole thing sounded familiar didn't it? Well it is the hex version of "Harmony Convergence". Lowering attack meele/range, damage and enemy armour. A good spell to have, but is it better than the convergence?Well, in my view no. It is more expensive and the bigger version suffers a tactical problem of empire wizards. In order to cast to the best effect, the wizard need to be close, even better surrounded by enemies! Something Bretonnia Prophetesses are likely not goanna survives long or too often.The augment can be cast in safety more efficient. So, in doubt I would decided for the convergence, but do we have to choose? In the beginning yes, but a Wizard who has masters both spells could push significantly a whole part of the line in one direction... victory...

Urannon's Thunderbolt:This spell is quite shocking news for the enemy.

TW:A very straight forward damage spells, doesn't hit many enemies but it does it hard. Good against elite units, single characters most likely and when combine with Roiling Skies, it provides a very good anti air spell.In fact I could see FLAZ (Flugabwehrzauberer=Flyer defence caster) wizards with this spell and skill points in roiling skies become a thing.As mention before, Bretonnia could use a additional tool to get rid of enemy Air units.

High level Spells:

Comet of Casandora:"Don't worry" they said, the "Sky will not fall onto our heads" they said...

TT:You choose a point you want the comet to fall, place a marker and every turn, on a D4+ the comet comes. If it doesn't, then ad a marker.Should you finally roll higher as 4+, all units, friend or foe, suffer in a radius of 2D6. All units hit, get 2D6 and +1 for every marker on it. The strength is 4 + every marker (it does start with one) on it.This cost you 12+.If you double to a 24+, you get two markers at the start and any giving round.

TW:Already prominent feature in the marketing of the Game, we are looking at one of the most devastating spells of the whole TT game. But it is also hard to control, due the time effects.The martial made it look that those restrictions are gone and the comet comes instant, thou I believe that this was for presentation purposes. Should I be wrong, ignore the following:Due its delay, it will be hard to make enemies actually be hit by it (except artillery and dwarfs), because no one (that includes TW AI) will just stand there and wait to get that THING drop on them. So how solve this problem? Well, it is harder to run away if they enemy is already engage. While this does mean this end for them, I surely that our peasants, with gladly lay down they lives for the Lady and for Bretonnia! Thou the choice is yours and not theirs anyway...Such thing will not necessary in sieges, where you could use it to either to clear walls and streets or enemy sieges towers.This is more important for Bretonnia, than for the Empire, simply because the Empire has more means to hurt their enemies on range (including other lore’s) than Bretonnia and this could provide some necessary “punch” for Bretonnia.

TT:Within 24 inches one units suffers D6 hits the Strength 6 and after that you for a 3+. If successful, you can aim for the next enemy 6 inches around that unit, with the same effects as before. The same unit can only be hit once, per spell use.All of this can be your for 15+.

TW:Did have a Deja-vu? Well we have the Thunderbolt, with the extra feature of the chance to jump on other enemies. While the basic stay the same (good against strong untis, single targets not so much against hordes), the ability to jump improves the spell quite a bit. Instead of only hitting the enemy hero you now also hurt the units that hero was supporting!Thou I suspect that you can't control the spell the way you can in the TT, it is still useful against pack enemies, which in TW are common. It does have the disadvantage that it doesn't have the range upgrade thunderbolt could have.

Conclusion:For Bretonnia, having the lore of Heaven could be very useful. It provides useful blessing, hex and some needed range damage and potential anti air alternatives.But there is one problem for Bretonnia. While most races can choose the same lores for both the hero and the lord class caster, Bretonnia can only chose this lore for the Prophetess (Lord) and not for the Damsel (hero).This means that in order to have this lore, you have to use a Prophetess as General for your army and not a Lord (assuming that CA statement that every army can only have 1 lord stays true). This is kinda a tough call to make, since not having the melee fighting power of the Lord is a big sacrifice.Also the there is another problem: right now, CA seems to general deny “good” races, the magic Lords (look at the empire). Hence it is possible that Bretonnia doesn’t even get the Prophetess or not from the get go. This then probably means that you won’t have the heavens lore. That would be a shame, because from three Lore’s Bretonnia has, this one is more different than the other two, thanks to its more heaver focus on damage.While supporting your troops (Life) or Characters (Beast) has its own value, having the range damage of the heavens lore, helps Bretonnia to close some of its gabs.

Which one of the three Lore’s you choose, greatly deepens on your playstyle, philosophy or your plans with a certain army. All of the three have they place and are useful.You want to focus to preserve your units and characters? Fearing that you could get grind down?Take the lore of Life.You want to use your Lords/Paladins to beat enemy characters? Send them into the hardest fights and see them triumph? Becoming unseen champions of the lady?Take the lore of the Beast.You want to fix Bretonnias weakness in range combat and be able to effectively neutralize enemy flyer, without only to relay on the Pegasus knights?Take the lore of the Heavens.

The Fay Enchantress:She is the living connection to the Lady of the Lake herself. If she says: “Jumb!” the rest of Bretonnia answer: “How high, my lady?”.She is one of the three possible LL of Bretonnia (King Louen Leoncoeur, most likely the race leader, and the “Green Knight” are the other two) and very likely to be the second, after the King himself.And since she is also a Wizard, I want to review her here.

TT:She is a level 4 Wizard, but not a lore master. She does have access to all of the Warhammer main Lore’s.Her stat line isn’t too impressive, but as Wizard it doesn’t have to. What is impressive is the number of special rules, bonuses and abilities.Let’s get through all of them in a short manner.

Magic:She is a level 4 Wizard (pretty much the highest level). Excess to all main lore’s and a +2 bonus of life spells.

Supreme Aura of the Lady:All Damsels and Prophetess of Bretonnia supply units which they join with magic resistance (Damsl with 1, Prophetess with 2). The Fay Enchantress put this on the next level with “magic resistance 3”. She also causes terror against Beastmen, Greenskins and skaven.

Favour of the Lady:One champion of a knight unit gains the favour of the Lady and adds +1 to all hit rolls. When he loses the “Blessing of the Lady” (by fleeing for example), both take a wound without armour or ward save.

Blessing of the Lady:Usually in the TT a Bretonnian army has to pray to the lady and loses the first turn, if they have it. In exchange they get a 6+ ward, which improves to a 5+ against strength 5 or higher attacks. It can be lost if a unit flees.The Fay Enchantress frees you from losing the first turn.

Grail Guardians:She can buy up to 9 Grail Knights as bodyguards she may never leave.

Spiteful Glance:Enemies in base contact must pass an initiative test or suffer one wound without armour or ward save.

Silvaron:Silvaron is a unicorn, with very good stats, surly no dragon or even griffon, but very respected stats. Especially movement is high (higher than the Grail Knights).When charging it has 2+ strength, has a 5+ ward save and magic resistance 2 (after current rules, irrelevant, since it gets the better resistance from the Enchantress).His attacks also cause fear.

Magic Items:

The Chalice of Potions:Every turn the Enchantress rolls a D6 and gets a random spell form the heavens Lore. If I understand the errata correctly, than this spell doesn’t cost any energy.If you roll a 6 (Chain Lightling), than the Chalice runs out of power and can’t be used for the rest of the game.

TW:These are a lot of rules, items and a nice mount. Some things need to have a closer look in terms of how they get translated in the game.

The possible Lore’s to choose from:Right from the get go we have start with a downer.Judging how CA handles Archon, this doesn’t go well for her.In the TT he would have the choice between 4 lore’s (three are in the game on release). Now I understand, from a game play standpoint, that he not simply has every lore freely available, since it would be either useless, because they are simply not enough skill points for meaningful combinations or/and it would be too OP.But what I would have hope for, is that we can choose in game, which of his Lore’s we use and than would have to stick with that.In the actually game, he is forced to use the fire lore.What does this mean for the Enchantress? Most likely she will have to use the Life lore. While this is not completely terrible, since the life Lore is good and she is good at using it, it does mean the only way for Bretonnia to have excess to other than the 3 lore’s they have, is closed.Thou the Chalice, does weaken this a bit.

Supreme Aura of the Lady:Probably a classic AE buff, since joining units is not a thing. Pretty useful, since it protects your units from magic harm and causing Terror against the named enemies can be useful as well. Thou the question remains: does “Terror” work like in the TT (pass moral test or debuff) or does it simply lower moral.

Favour of the Lady:Since there are no Champions right now, this could work as a buff to either a whole unit or a single character. When the unit or characters moral is broken, both take damage.

Blessing of the Lady:How the whole thing works is a big question mark for the whole of Bretonnia. While the basic mechanic will probably get translated (ward saves for knights, until they moral breaks once in battle). I don’t think that the whole “lose the first turn” will get translated. In theory it would be possible to force a Bretonnia army to stand around for the first 30-60 seconds of a battle. But I don’t think that will do anything, but artificial lengthen the battles and be annoying.Since the TT disadvantages can be easily avoided in TW, by simply deploying too far away.If I’m correct and that gets gutted, than this special rule loses its meaning. It could be replaced by improving the Ward saves, but it also could simply fall flat, since the Enchantress has enough other tricks.

Grail Guardians:Having the best unit of your army as bodyguards is great. Especially since the numbers shouldn’t be too low. 9 Grail knights in the TT is a serious number. Hence the bodyguard unit should be quite sizeable.But there is something else what could be interesting:The Bretonnian knights use a formation called “The Lance” (in TW, probably a charge bonus). Both the Damsel and the Prophetess can profit from the formation, since they can be place in a secure place, which usually doesn’t allow harm.

A little example of what I mean (X Bretonnia Knight and D is Damsel): XXX XXXXDXXXX Front Rank

The Damsel can’t be target by enemies according to TT rules, unless they have that specific rule.

While this doesn’t really apply to the Enchantress (except I over read something), I wonder if the could be place in such manner in her body guard unit, thou it would be against to some other abilities of her.

Spiteful Glance:The most faithful translation of this rule would be simply: if an enemy stand next to her, they take damage with a certain % chance.Now while this helps her to stay alive, it doesn’t really fix the fact she can’t really take damage.Now CA could turn this into a bit of a different ability: instead of a passive, it becomes are short range active ability, especially aiming single targets. This I think would be more useful in terms of gameplay for her.It is not her desire to get into close combat, so turning this into something which doesn’t need her to be in close combat is perhaps better than a extra “shield” for the close combat.

Silvaron:A good mount, but some of its strength don’t really shine or matter.Magic resistance is irrelevant, since it gets the better from its Mistress.It is fast, but if you choose to take the bodyguard (which I would advise), then you lose a bit of speed (you are still faster than other heavy cavalry). That it causes fear (to those who the Mistress doesn’t cause terror), has the charge bonus and otherwise good melee stats, gets a bit lost, through the fact that she doesn’t want to be in close combat.On the other hand: if you need to charge your enemies, than this helps in the last resort. You could also make the argument, that with bodyguard, special rules, the lore of Life and her mount, she might be not too bad in melee combat after all.Especially if she charges enemies.

The Chalice of Potions:This can be very random, but is likely to be very big fun. She effectively gains a second lore, one which can be quite useful.Problem of course is the random character, which makes planning hard and since the ranges of the spell vary quite a bit (as well the targets), it would reduce the effeteness of the spells used. In theory the spell “Iceshard Blizzard” is missing since you can’t roll on this spell and the changing rule of spells will most likely don’t apply to either this or the TW game in general. Possible of course that CA includes it in the random choice, which would be nice in most circumstances for Bretonnia to have.

The other items are pretty straight forwards.

Possible faction/race traits:Well from a lore point there a three big points that could be turned into a TW trait.First:She is involved in helping Question Knights to become Grail knights. So it would be possible that she offers boni to recruit both quest and grail knights. This would be good, since they are both important units.Her authority in Bretonnia could mean that public order is higher and/or that other Bretonnian factions are more likely to obey you.Her connections to magic boost your abilities to recruit Damsel or Prophetess.

All of them sound pretty good.

Conclusion:The Far Enchantress sounds like a pretty good LL to me. Good mage, even if the lore choice gets reduce. Many useful things she should get, once she in the TT level:Good mountPowerful bodyguardsUseful abilitiesPowerful, if random, itemA well rounded up character, even thou the direct protection is not that great. But thanks to the things she should get and the Lore of life, she should be durable enough.

I decided that it is easer to writhe a short overview for the other races that use the same lore and it is better for the reader as well.So here it goes: Empire gets an overview over the other Lore’s.

Empire main Lore’s overview:

Lore of Fire:While still a good lore, especially for the blessing, I don’t really think that the Empire “needs” the lore of Fire. You don’t lack range firepower (pun not intended) and that is what the Fire Lore mostly offers:AE damage effective against mostly low armour enemies.But what trouble the empire the most, are usually the enemy hard hitters, the grim elite units you can’t really match.Against those, I don’t view the lore of fire too useful.

Update:I reflect a little bit more and I think I could see a good use against a enemy I didn't really consider when writing the above:The Empire.Since a lot of early game would be against the Empire, it is worth to take the own weaknesses into account. And against troops like the Empire, the Lore of Fire can be very useful against a large chunk of Empire Units.Again, not against the elites like knights and greatswords or god forbid the steam tank, but against the majority of statetroops, it would be very useful.So in the early game, lore of Fire could be very useful and if those early Bright Wizard enough enough expy than they could be pretty strong through the whole game.

Lore of Death:This could be interesting for the Empire, since it offers some serious damage, which comes with the bonus to keep the magic machine running. But it also comes with some interesting combos which undermine enemy moral and help your own. Because remember: those who cause fear/terror are immune to it.While I personally prefer to strengthen my troops, instead of weaken the enemy, someone who has an opposite approach and want to use a other caster in the same army as well, should look closely at this lore.

Lore of Shadow:This one is very interesting, but probably the hardest to master to use its full potential, thanks to its lore attribute.This lore has some good damage, which can help against enemy elite units and the final blessing spells can be very devastating. Empire units usually don’t have great damage but a decent moral, which can be increase to good levels. Taking the moral of units like “Spearmen” and turning it into its damage (when it works that way in TW), would be a very nasty surprise for an enemy who was expecting easy pray.

Lore of Life:When the pitfalls are avoided, than this Lore will be very good for Empire commanders, who want to stay alive, keep the troops alive and still want one option of “BOOOM!!!”.

Lore of the Beast:Empire Characters are not the strongest. So having a support beast caster behind Karl Franz when he attacks Archon could be very important. But then again this might be the wrong focus.One question would be the Witchhunter:He would normally the prime candidate to get this lore’s support since he is the “assassin” of the empire, which takes care of enemy characters. But since he is considered “range” the lore might not work on him, thou it is important to note:CA may change the spells that they don’t effect close combat only but also range. If this is the case, then the Witchhunter would love to have a Beast caster behind him.

SiWi I couldn't find my 8th ed dwarf army book so can't give you the details exactly on the anvil of doom, nor do I remember them word for word so I would be hesitant to tell you what I know, as wording with rules is too important.

"As a sandbox game everyone, without exception, should be able to play the game exactly as they see fit and that means providing the maximum scope possible." - ~UNiOnJaCk~

SiWi I couldn't find my 8th ed dwarf army book so can't give you the details exactly on the anvil of doom, nor do I remember them word for word so I would be hesitant to tell you what I know, as wording with rules is too important.

Well I made my overview over the Anvil anyway, but should I somehow get my hands on the orginal scource, I will update this.

I think I should comment on the fact that CA has apparently "ranked" the lores for the empire (and probably for others as well), base on the building tree they published today.

While I have some resentments to such decisions, since it then appears that CA judge one lore abjectly better than the other, I must admit, when rank them, rank them this way.

How they appear to be ranked?

1 Magic building:Lore of FireLore of Light

2 magic buildingLore of HeavensThe Luminark

Considering the abilities of the Heavens lore, I could see them being stronger as the fire lore, which is good against early mass enemies (like other Empire factions) and stronger than the light lore, which is specific strong against VC, but could lack otherwise behind the heavens lore.

The Lore of Nehekhara:Similar to the Lore of Vampires, this lore is a MUST have for Tomb Kings, like literally the rules of the game (TT) require you to have it.

The Basic Lore Attribute:

The Restless Dead:No “rest in peace” for your guys.

TT:Every augment spell form this lore also brings back D3+1 lost models back. Animated constructs can only recover one wound.

TW:This is basically the “Invocation of Nehek” in a weaker version and as passive. While this only works of Augments, thankfully this lore has 4 different augment spells. Great incentive to use many augments spells as possible and to use magic in general in a Tomb King army.

TW:Sounds familiar? Well then you read the Vampire lore spells. This pretty much does the same: helps them to gain speed (undead are slow) and hence could be a great way to avoid damage through range or help a flank out faster.

TT:It is an augment spell with 12 inches range. The units gains “Killing blow” for close combat. When they already have the rule, it gets improved to a 5+.Cost: 7+.Range can be extended to 24 inches range for 10+.

TW:This is a very interesting concept. You see the rule “Killing blow” means that every time the unit roles a 6 to wound, the enemy is automatically dead and has only ward saves(nor armour or regeneration) to save him.This would probably translate to a bonus against “large”, against characters and armour piercing as well.When true that it would be a nice way to give your troops the edge against some of the nastier stuff they throw at you.

Neru’s Incantation of Protection:The condom with the same name is not sanction from Neru.

TT:Augment spell with 12 inches range. The unit gets a 5+ Ward save.Cost: 9+.For 18+ you can cast it on all units within 12 inches range.

TW:This is a pretty nice spell. An additional protection is always welcome, especially since it helps against the strongest weapons and armour piercing weapons. Casting in on a couple of units at once could be very strong.But what makes this spell awesome, is the lore attribute. Not only do you units get more protection, but they also regain loses. And yes: all units this is cast on regain causatives. Making this spell the ultimate defensive/grinding spell: you protect your units and increase they numbers, if they lost some before.

TW:The basic of this spell is very solid: both the enemy health as well enemy damage is going to be damage. It will be interesting to see of the randomness, which only comes to play when using the improve version, get also translated. I mean the possibility that you spend more energy and perhaps more important skill points, to have a 33% chance to have the same result, when casting successful, is a big downer in my view.Perhaps CA will skip this aspect. It would improve the more advance version greatly.

Sakhmet’s Incantation of the SkullstormAnd now the Weather… mostly sunny, but in course of the day, skull storms are expected.

TT:Damage Vortex spell that stays in the game. It uses the 3 template. The player places the template and nomination the direction the spell goes. Then he uses the artillery dice (2-10) and multiplies the result with 3. Ever model touched gets a 4 strength hit. Should the arty dice show malfunction that the template gets place about the caster. After that you use a D6 and the scatter dice.In both events, the sun stays in the game and move randomly till the arty dice shows a malfunction. Cost: 15+.For 25+ you get the big 5 inches template.

TW:While very similar to other spell (Purpule Sun, Bad Moon ect.), it doesn’t share they strength. Strength 4 is not really scary. Empire State troops would suffer, but the Reiksgaurd laugh’s at it.So unless CA buffs it, I think you waste you time here. Sure it is the only true damage spell in this lore but the Tomb Kings do have excess to the lore of Death, so it may be simply better to choose a support mage with the Lore of death, if you want to make damage.Also let’s not forget: there is a huge incentive to use the augment spells of this lore. So unless you fight troops which come in huge quantities and poor armour and are in need of an AE spell, skip this one.

Conclusion:Well since you most likely will have no choice have no choice what so ever if you want to use this lore or now, the question is: is that a bad thing?Not really. The lore attribute is great and the augment spells are very useful. Covering up weaknesses (Khsar’s), enhancing your damage (Djaf’s and Ptra’s) or just make you incredible grindy (Neru’s), this lore has it all.The hexes are good as well and only the “ultimate” spells is a disappointment.Being force to use it, is not a downside (thou some would argue that it “rail road” your magic for TK).

Main Lore’s overview:Before we begin:Some people will perhaps wondering, why the Tomb Kings are able to use the lore of light, since it is anti undead and supposedly a “good” lore. Well that is the thing: the winds of magic do not have an agenda, the same electricity doesn’t have it. The lore of light is not “good” and the lore of death is not “evil”. The same that the Tomb Kings are not necessary evil, since they may want to rule the world, but they don’t want to destroy it and many of the wars they fight because people come to steal they stuff.

Lore of Light:Despite that one spell is flat out useless, this could be a very strong lore in the early game of the TK. If we assume that at the start of the game, your main enemy will be other TK factions. Also the fact that it has good augment spells helps to overcome some of the weak stats your troops have. When in the contest of “who is the better undead race”, this could be also your joker against the VC.

Lore of Death:This lore is probably the more universal and better support lore, when considering that you will have to have one wizard with the Nehekhara lore, than the lore attribute, as well the focus on damage is an excellent addition the spells of the Nehekhara lore.

Reviews of Settra the imperishable, Grand Hierophant Khatep and Arkhan the Black will follow.

I feel the Hierotitan needs a brief mention as a it is unique in being a monster in the Tomb King roster that can cast the following two spells "Shem's burning gaze" (lore of light) and "Spirit leach" (lore of death)

I'm not sure if SiWi forgot or if he's going to do a seperate post on the Carsket of Souls. (mentioning it just in case its the former)

"Fear me for I am Grey Seer Thanqol, Greatest TWW player in all of Skavendom."

I feel the Hierotitan needs a brief mention as a it is unique in being a monster in the Tomb King roster that can cast the following two spells "Shem's burning gaze" (lore of light) and "Spirit leach" (lore of death)

I'm not sure if SiWi forgot or if he's going to do a seperate post on the Carsket of Souls. (mentioning it just in case its the former)

I over looked him, but since I said I wanted to review magical units (like the Luminark) as well it is fair that I do them too.

Before I turn to the Lords, I want break down the magical units of the TK roster.

Casket of SoulsTotally not “the ark of Covenant”, thou India Jones Music is still fitting background music, when you use it.

TT:This is a Warmachine with comes with a crew of 3. One “Keeper of the Casket” (who actually “shoots” it) and two “Casket Guards”. While the Casket itself is sufficient tanky (toughness 10 and 3 wounds), the crew isn’t. The only thing that could be a nasty surprise for an attacker in terms of crew is the “killing blow” rule the guards have, but that only triggers on a 6+ and they have almost nothing protecting them. If you compare them with the guards of the Anvil of Doom, than you see how pitiful they are.

But fear not! You may be almost helpless in close combat, but when you do go, you have a good chance to take who ever killed you with you.Thanks to the “unleashed Souls” rule.This rule makes every unit, friend or foe, must roll a D6 and on a 4+, the unit gets hit by D6 strength 6 hits. Magical attacks, no armour save allowed.

Now of course you don’t by this thing in the hope that the enemy use na elite melee unit to take it out and lose that unit. You take it for two reasons:

Light of Death:Damage spell for 5+ cost. Has 48 inches range and force the enemy unit to take a leadership test with 3D6 instead of 2D6. For each point the unit fails, the unit suffers a wound were no armour.After that you throw a dice: on a 3+, the spells search for the next target (can’t hit the same unit twice the same turn) within 6 inches range.And in case you wondering, this does work on undead units.

Covenant of Power:Every turn, you gain D3 energy/power dice. To put this in perspective, you have to know two things: the normal energy is generated by throwing 2D6 and every mage in the game is able to create a power dice, if he/she rolls a 6.So not only does this mean that you guarantee has at least one more energy dice (which you could use to keep the thing firing) and if you lucky you get three.

TW:This could be a very strong unit for the Tomb Kings. While I don’t see the Bodyguards (20-40 men probably) to be too helpful, the fact it blows up, should keep enemy units away, but will make it primary target for any range the enemy has and hence shouldn’t be parked next to the best units.Its steady flow of additionally energy will come every handy and its spell has a very devastating potential. Ironically, especially against undead units, which have miserly leadership (even Blood Dragons have 7, the same as Empire Statetroopers without officer).It could be too slow for an offensive army of the Tomb Kings, but even in that situation, you simply could park it at the end of the map and use the energy its produce to cast like no other.

HierotitansWhat’s better than a conventional giant like creature? A Magical giant like creature is.

TT:The Hierotitan is a living construct and a monster. He has a pretty good defences (toughness 6, Wounds 5, the Giant of the Greenskins have the opposite), but his melee offence isn’t really impressive, when compare to the Giant or the Colossus of the TK (the same, but with better melee stats and without magic).So what does make him impressive? Two things (again):

He has the ability to use the signature spell of both the lore of light and death and that in a cheaper version of it.And both spells are solid damage spells. Which one is better? Against Undead (civil War or VC), it is the lore of light. For that price, that damage is unbeatable. We are talking about 2D6 strength 4 hits, aka 12 crossbows for 3+. Lore of death on the other hand, offers good damage against a single target and the potential to regain energy (lore attribute).

The other thing is: Spirit ConduitWhen within 12 inches of a friendly mage, this mage gets an additional D3 to his casting attempts.

TW:Thos could be very strong. While he isn’t as strong in terms of melee abilities, than similar creatures, he has similar tankyness still. The spells he has are useful, especially when cheaper as from regular mage, as well the combination.But what put him over the top, is the passive. Making all friendly mages spells cheaper can be huge, and the enemy will have problems to get him down in range or melee.If you want to go full out magic in your TK, a play style they seem to favourer, then his passive is a great boost.

Settra the imperishableSettra the imperishable. Khemrikhara, King of Nehekara, Lord of the Earth, Monarch of the Sky, Ruler of… you know what. You get the picture.

TT:His has a very good stat line. While a bit slow (initiative), he hits hard and takes a lot of damage. Thanks for his Chariot, which can also, can take quite a beating; he is quite fast in terms of movement. Leadership is the best possible, 10 out of 10.

First he has all the rules other Tomb Kings have as well:The Curse, Flammable and My Will be Done.

The Curse is an ability which causes Damage to who ever slain the Tomb King. With D6 hits with strength 5, this does hurt.

Flammable: does exactly what it sound like. Fire makes more damage against you.

My Will be Done:It is the key rule of the TK army. A Tomb King/Prince can give WS (melee combat skill) to the unit he is in. Considering the very often bad stats of the Tomb King troops and the very good stats of the kings themselves, it is a serious buff.

And he is undead by the way.

Now with the “basic” rules out of the way, let’s talk about the unique staff for Settra.

Wizard:He is an lvl 1 wizard that uses the lore of Nehekhara. Allows him to be the Hierophant and is the reason I review him.

Settra the Great:Inspiring presence (the ability to use the generals Leadership instead) is 18 inches instead of 12 inches.

Magical Items:The Crown of NehekharaInstead of using “my will be done” on the unit joined, he uses it on all friendly unit within 6 inches.

The Scarab Brooch of Urisian:Grants a 4+ Ward save and magic resistance 1 (aka a 3+ ward save against magic).

The Blessed Blade of Ptra:It is Magic Weapon. Grants “flaming attack”, allows no armour safes. Characters or monsters that suffer an unsaved wound get -1 on the hit roll for both melee and range combat for the rest of the battle.

TW:The Tomb Kings “normal special” rules work, have some side effects for Settra. “The curse” will most likely not safe him or defeat your enemies, but will you feel less bad if you lose him and since he is a LL, he will come back.Flammable sucks against every race with fire weapons or the Lore of fire, but is something you will have to life with as Tomb King, Settra or not.As for the most important rule, “my will be done”, it gets even better with him, thanks to his supreme stats and the fact that Crown of Nehekhara (after he unlocked it) will give him the ability to boost more than one unit in the fight.

His wizardry is more of an alibi kind, to not require an additional hero with him. Thou two thinks will be interesting to see:First: will he start as wizard or will he need to go onto a quest to unlock it.If the later is the caste, he would also a need a second hero to support him, unless CA skips that aspect.Second: will he be able to go full magic and what consequences does that have for him. Looking at Azhag, it appears that even characters with weak magic abilities in the TT, can go full magic.If that is the case, than Settra will probably be a better “commander” character, thanks to the magic, since support is what the Lore of the Tomb Kings is good at.

“Settra the Great” is an odd one. Increasing the range to boost the moral of troops is nice for most races, but for the Tomb Kings?There are some cases where the undead need moral in the TT, but those are fairly rare. So perhaps CA will choose to booster other stats as well (defence/armour), or I will not think that this will be too useful.

The Scarab Brooch of Urisian:More protection (and a big chunk of it) for him, especially against magic, is always welcome

The Blessed Blade of Ptra:A very good magic weapon that should help him to make damage and weakens the targets he hits, which could make it a good idea to hit every enemy at least once, assuming that it won’t only be temporally in a battle. It also should become hand when in a confrontation against strong single targets.

Mounts:In the TT he is only available with his chariot, but since Ahzag also has to work for his mount, I will assume that he won’t start with the chariot. This doesn’t have to be negative for him btw, simply because it gives him the option to push the centre with his infantry, instead to be “bound” to the flanks.The chariot itself is pretty tanky and very fast and should make him an excellent for making fast pushes, as long he doesn’t come too close to Bretonnia stakes. It also cause magical and flame attacks, which give it a edge against certain targets (and probably a bigger impact/charge bonus):

Bodyguard?In the TT, there is not a special bodyguard unit mention for him, but he does have the ability to join other chariots. So it is possible that he does get one, thou it is probably not necessary.

Faction wise trait:He probably has an “every unit is now slightly cheaper” bonus.

Conclusion:I think we se here a very potent LL/race leader. Hits hard, can take punches, is a caster and is fast. Also his improve “my will be done” could prove to be a very deadly weapon.While he is not a totally fighting machine, compared to some of the other LL’s, he is still pretty good in 1 vs. 1 and he can boost his troops pretty effective. Thou a lot of course depends how good chariots work.

TT:His stat line is not terrible for a mage, but make no mistake: an empire captain will beat him to death, if you let him. This is expected thou, since only few of the wizard characters are even decent in melee combat.And magic wise, we look at a 4 level wizard, which is again the standard for such character.So what makes him special?

Loremaster of NehekharaHas all the spell of the lore (instead of 4).

Grandt Hierophant of Khemri:When you have him in the army, he must be the Hierophant of the army.

Magic Items:

The Liche Staff:After he rolled the dice to cast a spell, he can choose to reroll, even when he rolled “irresistible force” (would mean it is undispelable and that something very bad could happen to the caster).

Scroll of the Cursing Word:One time use only item. When an enemy cast a spell, you can use this instead of dispel.The spell comes through, but the caster must take toughness and if the fails, then he can’t cast in that turn anymore.If he fails with a 6, then the caster suffers D3 wounds, with no saves allowed.

TW:Khatep has the problem that many of his TT rules, don’t translate too obvious. “Grandt Hierophant” is almost a non rule, considering that he will lead an army on his own and naturally will be the “Hierophant” anyway.Loremaster has the problem that it occurs that TW handles the numbers of spell one can have differently and that basically every one can be “loremaster” if you skill them this way.

Does that mean he will suffer? Probably not. CA my not be able to translate the rules 1 to 1 and make sense, but they can translate the “spirit” of the rules.“Grandt Hierophant” could simply boost his armies in various ways:Replenishment, recruitment, movement, upkeep ect.Loremaster could boost either the power of the spells or help him casting them. Both could be very powerful boost. Loremaster will reduce spell cooldowns. He does use the lore that is critical for the Tomb Kings and not just because the rules force them to use it.Tomb Kings troops will need to grind worthy enemies down and that can only be archive surely, if the casualties are reduce but the lore attribute.

“The Liche Staff” will probably make miscast unlikely and make him a more reliable caster. This is immensely important, considering the fact how strong the Tomb rely on magic and how strong a Wizard Lord will rely on casting.

“Scroll of the Cursing Word” is not the best in the TT, since it is basically safer to try to dispel, if you have the dices left and the chances that you would hurt/kill an enemy caster with this are incredible slim.Now in TW, this could be a very powerful tool. After all: there appears to be no dispelling in the game, which makes this one of the few options to actually shutdown (at least for a while) an enemy caster, without having to kill him. If you also damage him, great, but the fact that you have one of the few instruments for magic defence is something to be notice. Obviously you will use it more than one in a campaign, thou the battle limit may stay.

Mounts?Nope, he is a wanderer and will have to wander.

Bodyguard:No obvious choice. A General “Tomb guard” is possible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Conclusion:Not a bad LL, excellent with the lore of the Tomb Kings, probably also a great booster of campaign attributes of armies and the fact that he will bring a form of magic defence to the table.His downsides are simply that he will be on foot and that he probably will have no bodyguard. While the lack of latter is not as bad, the former will limit his ability to be tactically used.His armies will probably need to embrace the slow moving nature of the Tomb Kings and go with an infantry grind tactic, instead of fast chariot tactic Settra could pull off quite easily. Overall I think you will have a very good support Lord here, which will not personally bash your enemies but able his troops to do so. And unlike his promise he gave Settra, I positive that he will keep his promise to be a very good wizard to you.

TT:He has a decent, but not amazing statline. He can fight mediocre troops and weaker heroes, but against the big close combat guys, he doesn’t stand a chance.Once again, we have an lvl 4 wizard at hand, but also something special:He is allowed to be the Hierophant of an army, even he does use the lore of death.Additionally, he counts as Tomb King, thou he only has “Curse” not “my will be done” and is “flammable”.

Magical items:

The Tomb Balde of Arkhan:For every unsaved wound, the unit Arkhan is in regains a wound (model).

Staff of Nagash:You can store up to 3 unused dispel dices and use them in your magic phase as energy dices.

The Liber Mortis:Plot twist: Arkhan is actually an lvl 5 wizard, thanks to this item. If he loses it, he also lose a spell.

TW:We have a interesting contrast to Khatep. Where Khatep supports his army and must get out of melee, Arkhan is, thanks to the Lore of Death, much more focus to crush your enemies. While he doesn’t need a second wizard hero, I would advise one, since the lore of the Tomb Kings is pretty important to them and the lore of death can be very well combine with other lores, thanks to lore attribute. His items are also interesting.

The Tomb Balde of Arkhan:Probably will let units around him regain health, corresponding to the damage that he makes. This does sound great, but will probably only be mighty against relative weak unit, which he can easily kill and let his troops replenish.Against elite units or melee heroes/lords, I don’t see him to succeed with this too well.

Staff of Nagash:Probably will increase the amount of energy your side has, which will be an important factor, especially when combine with other means of the Tomb Kings. And since he will as lord depending on his abilities to cast, this will ensure that he can keep casting.

The Liber Mortis:Improved the cast chances and probably the power of the spells he use. Pushes him above the vast majority of other legendary casters (like Balthasar Gelt).

Mounts?Can have a Chariot, which can be upgraded to fly. Very useful in terms of movement. Not quite death-claw in terms of fighting power, but the movement is greatly boosted.It also can be upgraded with additional skeleton steeds (2) thou I'm a bit unsure where the use will be.

Bodyguard:No obvious choice. A General “Tomb guard” is possible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Faction Traits:He could go into a similar direction as Azhag (boosting relationship with VC) or perhaps boost the use of Dark Magic.

Conclusion:In the direct comparison between him and Khatep, he will be the one to destroy your enemies. He will be less of a support of an army he is and more dangerous to the enemies. He also likes melee combat, thou he probably will not like it against elite units.When torn between him and Khatep, ask yourself: do you prefer to boost armies or do you prefer to destroy your enemies by “your” own hand?Where he has a clear advantage is in the mount section where he not just can use a chariot (which is terms of tankyness and damage worse is that Settra's), but can upgraded it to be a flyer, which gives him far better movement on the battlefield as either Khatep or even Settra. He does one similar downsides to Khatep, namely no ikely bodyguard.He does have the advantage of “curse”, thou I would argue that this isn’t a big one, but he is also “flammable” which I view as the bigger problem.

.Arkhan can ride either a regular TK chariot, or an "upgraded" sorcerous version that can fly (doesn't inflict magical damage though). The sorcerous one would obviously give him more mobility than the other two LLs. It would also be fun to see crashing from the sky into a unit when it charges :]

Post edited by Thanquol on February 2016

"Fear me for I am Grey Seer Thanqol, Greatest TWW player in all of Skavendom."